How well do you.........

**Libertytow** · 09-18-2012, 11:39 PM

.....understand YOUR costs??

i have to ask this as i am curious as a full time scrapper.

Do you understnad your cost per mile per truck (fuel, insurance, registration,tire repairs maintenance) if so do you wing it break it down by load hour day mile???

what about costs per man hour (workmans comp insurance wages consumables)

costs per load etc (adminastration, storage, epa fees, dump fees electricity water etc.)

and lastly Taxes i realize most yeard pay cash but as a business owner i have to show where my $$$ comes from and goes

so do you know your #'s percentages yeild ratio and profit/loss statements

**gustavus** · 09-19-2012, 12:24 AM

Originally Posted by Libertytow

.....understand YOUR costs??

i have to ask this as i am curious as a full time scrapper.

Do you understnad your cost per mile per truck (fuel, insurance, registration,tire repairs maintenance) if so do you wing it break it down by load hour day mile???

what about costs per man hour (workmans comp insurance wages consumables)

costs per load etc (adminastration, storage, epa fees, dump fees electricity water etc.)

and lastly Taxes i realize most yeard pay cash but as a business owner i have to show where my $$$ comes from and goes

so do you know your #'s percentages yeild ratio and profit/loss statements

You would have to be the genie in the bottle to foresee the future to predetermine those figures. Most of us don't have a clue what tomorrow brings let along a month down the road.

This is what make being a scrapper interesting.

**Libertytow** · 09-19-2012, 12:37 AM

Gus i read your 13 page post and thought you"ld see it differently frankly seeing as you have a knuckleboom and such.

I know depending on the lopad and which truck i take EXACTLY what my cost per mile is there for if the f150 is $1.50 a mile i will not go 25 miles for a fridge but will gladly take it 3 miles for 20 lbs of copper. I know my insurance costs for bigger jobs. my advertising costs as well as where my leads are coming from and which stops are profitable and which waste valuable time.

lastly it is hugely important to know and understand these costs how do you build a successful business just winging it? if your truck died tomorrow could you rebuild i could

if i hurt somebody i know my insurance is covered without worrying if there will be enough loads to pay it.

i am just curious after reading alot of pages on here if anyonme else ever ran there #'s goi9ng curb shopping in a ford ranger using $20 in gas to make $30 at the scrap yard only seems like a $10 gain until you look at hours for return, wear and tear consuables image cost of retention straps and lastly image.

that $20 have no been better to advertise get a guaranteed load via phone call not ad my mistake for clarity and knowing the profit point and left off the w&t

like i siad curious where everyone is at on here

**charn** · 09-19-2012, 03:22 AM

My fuel cost of curbside shopping is one meal. If I don't find anything I still get a nice ride. A yard run is approximately $5 of gas for $10-30 loads of shred and aluminum. I expect I will get more when I haul in full buckets of copper, motors, brass, etc.

**Libertytow** · 09-19-2012, 03:24 AM

charn i am curious as to how that is what"s fuel by you

**Ecycle Atlanta** · 09-19-2012, 06:44 AM

Its a big step from being a curb-pickup guy to a full scale scrap business. The curb guy figures how much he had at the beginning of the day and how much at the end after he has paid for gas/food/bills...living hand to mouth as it were. There is a great freedom in living this way and i enjoy it, but it can bring about a lot of anxieties about tomorrow. More to your point, though, is when you want to make it into a bigger business. I dont have the answers to your question, but all those things you have to factor in to maximize profits. I'm looking to step up now and am considering the costs of the vehicles i will need, marketing costs, possible employee, Gov fees, rental space, etc. It can be daunting.

**Russell** · 09-19-2012, 08:03 AM

I'm diversified. I have a " regular job" that pays well. So, I am not full time but run as professional and efficient as possible. I do not run under a business name. I keep all reciepts and pay taxes as hobby income.

To answer your question about curb shopping. I do it less and less and look more at the bigger picture. I've become better at making contacts for finding scrap in a more steady and reliable fashion. One thing about most of the curb guys is they live day to day or week to week. The first thing I did was crunch numbers. So generally speaking it costs me around a gallon of gas to peddle per hour. I basically need about 50 pounds of steel per hour to break even on fuel/ oil changes.

Scrapping ( like most other things) will give back what you put in. If you aimlessly drive around you'll have mediocre results. If you run it with purpose and learn and apply basic organization; the sky will be the limit.

I could go on and on about what I've done to improve and advance. To keep my answer short. Yes I keep track of everything that pertains to scrapping.

**taterjuice** · 09-19-2012, 09:44 AM

Like russel got a regular job with benefits, and scrap to boot. I don't keep every single receipt but believe me I know where the bottom line is and it's not in red ink either.

**scrapperben** · 09-19-2012, 10:15 AM

I started as a hard rubbish e-waste scrapper and am now looking to doing it as a business.
as has been mentioned here before, I think the most important factor in a scrapping biz' is your network.
if you have a good network of buyers and givers then most other things are common sense really.

**taterjuice** · 09-19-2012, 11:15 AM

Originally Posted by gustavus

You would have to be the genie in the bottle to foresee the future to predetermine those figures. Most of us don't have a clue what tomorrow brings let along a month down the road.

This is what make being a scrapper interesting.

Couldn't agree more Gus, I fly by the seat of my pants and will continue to do that til I quit breathing. Ain't no other way to live is there ?

**charn** · 09-19-2012, 11:47 AM

Originally Posted by Libertytow

charn i am curious as to how that is what"s fuel by you

I curbside shop with a bike and trailer. My ride fuel today might be a pot pie, pasty, or PBJ.

**drozenski** · 09-19-2012, 12:02 PM

Originally Posted by Libertytow

Gus i read your 13 page post and thought you"ld see it differently frankly seeing as you have a knuckleboom and such.

I know depending on the lopad and which truck i take EXACTLY what my cost per mile is there for if the f150 is $1.50 a mile i will not go 25 miles for a fridge but will gladly take it 3 miles for 20 lbs of copper. I know my insurance costs for bigger jobs. my advertising costs as well as where my leads are coming from and which stops are profitable and which waste valuable time.

lastly it is hugely important to know and understand these costs how do you build a successful business just winging it? if your truck died tomorrow could you rebuild i could

if i hurt somebody i know my insurance is covered without worrying if there will be enough loads to pay it.

i am just curious after reading alot of pages on here if anyonme else ever ran there #'s goi9ng curb shopping in a ford ranger using $20 in gas to make $30 at the scrap yard only seems like a $10 gain until you look at hours for return, wear and tear consuables image cost of retention straps and lastly image.

that $20 have no been better to advertise get a guaranteed load via phone call not ad my mistake for clarity and knowing the profit point and left off the w&t

like i siad curious where everyone is at on here

99% of the people here dont do any of this. This is the exact example i was trying to tell people who sell things on ebay.

If it's worth $2 in scrap but $8 on ebay sure that looks like an easy $6

But what about your time, trip to the post office, packing materials, elec to run the computer, internet, ect. They all need to be taken into account but are always omitted by people.

**hobo finds** · 09-19-2012, 12:05 PM

So if you enjoy going to yard sales to get good deals, factor in your gas, insurance and ware and tare on vehicle. LOL

**Ecycle Atlanta** · 09-19-2012, 12:16 PM

Hobo...that is true and people need to consider it. I always went to garage sales even before i was scrapping. This has given me one more HUGE opportunity to make money doing something i was already doing. win-win for me, but as i get into it full time i wont be relying on garage sales. Like Russell said, i'm looking at reliable ways for steady inventory, and just use garage sales as a hobby. Kind of like going fishing and seeing a pile of steel on the shore waiting to be hauled off.

**charn** · 09-19-2012, 12:26 PM

Another cost is tools bought for scrapping. Mine are the trailer, multi-tool I lost, ax, and gloves, so far. $56.

**Libertytow** · 09-19-2012, 02:38 PM

Exactly but i am curious as to where those #'s lie i know my costs to the penny for every truck, trailer, and load

this website is about the scrap metal business i prefer recycling but to each their own

i am trying to GROW My recycleing Business i can only rely on expansion when i know what mny costs are now.

even if your using the family car it cosr you SOMETHNG

**mikeinreco** · 09-19-2012, 03:00 PM

I'll tell you what I do......For instance I have 3000 in my pocket I Wait till I get around 5000 in my pocket I put the 2000 back and start again with the initial 3000

**drozenski** · 09-19-2012, 03:51 PM

Originally Posted by mikeinreco

I'll tell you what I do......For instance I have 3000 in my pocket I Wait till I get around 5000 in my pocket I put the 2000 back and start again with the initial 3000

$3k is 1 tip to the emergency room for some stitches. Thats not very much in insurance.

**Libertytow** · 09-19-2012, 03:56 PM

mike i must ? how do you make the $2k what does it cost in time wear and tear consumables insurance if you blow a tirte do you have enough scrap???

**Craasher** · 09-19-2012, 04:41 PM

Every situation is going to be different. I saw one post on here a while back that someone claimed that they had figured out that if they didn't make $200/day then they lost money. This was a one truck operation though so you are going to be different since you have a much larger operation and it might cost more or less to operate a truck. Could you figure that up on a per truck basis then add the numbers together to see what you had to make a day or in a week to break even?

My situation is much easier to figure but I am a numbers guy. It doesn't cost me anything to mail e-scrap to a buyer because I do it on my lunch hour. I eat lunch next to the Fed-Ex place and drop my box off. I didn't buy the equipment that I scrapped and I haven't had to buy any new tools since I started scrapping. In that case everything I have done is profit when it comes to e-scrap.

Now the scrapyard run I made I borrowed my father in laws truck because mine needed some work done to it. It cost me about $15 in gas but I returned it to him and put $20 in gas in it. Now I know it will cost me approximately $20 for every scrap run and at .11/lb (what I got last time) I know I can't take less than 182 lbs. Even in that case I would only break even, So my goal is to save up anywhere from 600-1000 lbs each trip. My first trip was 820lbs and I made $90. The way I came up with that number though is that it takes me about 2 hours to run to the yard and I wanted to basically pay myself to do it. I would like to make $20/hr so thats at least $40/profit per run. So I need 363 lbs of scrap + my 182 pounds that I needed to break even. So if I don't have enough weight to make $60 buck I will keep it and keep saving.

I don't know if any of this answers any of your questions and probably doens't apply in anyway to you since I'm a small timer but I wanted to put how I figure that stuff up.

How well do you.........

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